Poached Pears with Honey, Thyme and Blue Cheese
Ingredients
- 2 pears such as Conference or Comice not over ripe
- 3 -4 Tbs of Runny honey
- 4 Sprigs of fresh thyme
- 150 - 200g of good blue cheese such as Exmoor Blue or Beenligh Blue
- 500ml of apple juice
- 50g of unrefined caster sugar
- 2 star anise
- 2 cloves
- 4 black peppercorns
Instructions
- Peel the pears then cut them into quarters from top to bottom. Place in a pan into which they fit fairly snugly. Pour over the apple juice, add the sugar and spices, bring gently to the simmer, carefully stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Simmer until the pears are tender but not too soft. The time will depend on their ripeness: from 5 minutes to about 20.
- Remove the pears from the poaching liquor and allow to cool.
- To serveArrange 2 pieces of pear next to a wedge of your favourite blue cheese. Trickle generously with runny honey and sprinkle with thyme leaves